Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to customized content. More specifically, the present invention relates to customized content using a first party portal.
Description of the Related Art
Before the age of digital media using websites and services such as Netflix and Hulu, finding content that is interesting for a user can be both time consuming and daunting. For example, a guide (i.e. television guide) may provide a list of available programs to view and what times those programs are aired. These guides may provide a short summary/excerpt regarding what that program may be about. Alternatively, users may receive suggestions as to what programs may be interesting by word of mouth from others (e.g., friends, family).
The problem with the previous way of searching for content that the user would like to view is manifold. First, users would need to initially view the content in order to determine whether or not the program is in fact interesting. The description of programs (as listed in the guide or described by others) may not be completely accurate or may not available for the user to view. For example, if a user's friend suggests a particular show without much details (or selectively provides an aspect of the show), the user when viewing the show may find it completely different from expectation (i.e. as initially described) and uninteresting. Furthermore, even when users do find programs of interest, there are no efficient or easy ways of finding other related content that the user would also be interested in or keep track of when new related content becomes available for the user to view.
With the advent of various streaming media and video on demand services (e.g., Hulu, Youtube, Twitch), features that facilitate providing content to the user have been implemented. In particular, these services may be capable of suggesting numerous different types of content (e.g., streaming media, movies, programs) for the user to view based on various different types of criteria (e.g., personal preference, watch history). These features have been helpful in allowing users to find content that the user would be interested in from a growing supply of content available.
Even with these features implemented by various streaming media and video on demand services (e.g., Youtube), similar challenges of providing relevant content that the user would be interested in viewing still exist. The amount of viewable content is increasing substantially over time. This increase so much so that users who have a wide array of interests and extended watch history may correspondingly have a large number of suggestions for content that the existing services would suggest. There exists now a challenge of wading through an increasing number of available content that may all be deemed interesting for the user to view. There is a further need to provide a dynamic process that focuses on newer content or related content based on what the user recently viewed so as to further narrow the provided suggestions to a more manageable selection.